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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 26, 2008 - 12:30pm PT
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Here is an update for the Auburn SRA climbing issue though not much has happened there are some developments:
#1) A local Non-Profit Organization was formed with the express purpose of representing local climbers with land managers fighting to keep access to currently open crags and pursue getting currently closed crags open. The group is affiliated with the Access Fund and is appropriately named, C.R.A.G.S - Climbing Resource Advocates for Greater Sacramento. You can check out the website at:
http://www.yourcrags.org
The group has already sponsored a Adopt-a-Crag event at the local Rocklin Boulders and just last night hosted the Reel Rock Tour at Pipework where a crowd of over 100+ local climbers got some free snack, free beer (yeah you heard me, FREE beer), a ton of free goodies via a raffle from sponsors like:
 SuperTopo (THANKS CHRIS!) (http://www.supertopo.com);
Liberty Mountain (http://www.libertymountain.com/);
Gregory (http://www.gregorypacks.com/);
Pipeworks (http://www.touchstoneclimbing.com/sp.html);
Mad Rock (http://www.madrockclimbing.com/);
...and then were treated to the film on a huge screen.
How this all relates to Auburn is from the legal side of things. As much as I would have hoped for otherwise, I think myself, Dave, Gordy, Collin, and others who have been individually pursuing Auburn Access for the last 5 years have come to realize that the SRA is just not interested in acting in good faith with climbers. This has resulted in CRAGS taking the next step via the California Public Records Act (CAPRA). We officially and legally requested all documents related to the decision to ban climbing from the SRA. They are mandated by law to reply within 10 days of how they will supply these documents. This request is already overdue with no response from the SRA. No surprise there :( This does give us further legal action which will most begin very shortly (the benefit of having several lawyers on the board of CRAGS!)
#2) CRAGs board members spoke about local access issues on the local NPR radio show Insight. Auburn was specifically discussed. You can hear the audio archive at the below link:
http://www.capradio.org/programs/insight/default.aspx?showid=5367&programid=10
#3) From previous communication with the SRA back in June (a huge effort in itself to get them to respond), Jim Michaels (Project Manager for the Auburn SRA General Plan) has recognized that the Auburn GP time line slipped due to further developments in the Folsom Lake GP. His commitment to us was once again a promise to keep us informed. This was in June, I hadn't heard from him since. I have emailed and called him earlier this month, surprise surprise, no return message has yet been recieved.
#4) The final nail in the Auburn Dam project will potentially happen in December where the State Water Officials are proposing pulling the BoRecs water rights for the project. This would effectively mean the end of all possibility of the Auburn Dam in it's current proposal. This would be a success for climbers as the SRA has always tried to claim they didn't want to talk climbing if it was just going to put the area under water.
#5) And this probably the most depressing: Teichert has moved forward with the plans to "reclaim and reform" some of the Old Quarry. Areas impacted are The Well and Killimanjaro. This means NorCal climbers lost 2 multipitch sport routes (already few and far between in Norcal) and 5 other single pitch routes ranging from 5.8 to 5.13. The only "good" thing about that is Teicherts activity may have finally settled the long standing excuse from the SRA about "where" the boundaries were to Teichert's claim. While it sucks to lose the above mentioned climbs, it does show that the majority of established climbs (~50 routes) are outside of Teichert's lease and are not impacted by the reclamation. With that established, what really is left for justification for keeping climbers out of the QUarry?
That pretty much brings you up to speed on the developments of the last few months. Please swing by the above URL and join local climbers in the fight for access at both Auburn and other local areas. We plan on having routine events both access and just plain'ole climbing focused as frequently as possible, in addition to having a general meeting for the current members and anyone else interested in attending/joining up. I will post more information here and on the website when we lock down the date.
If you want to see what some of the previously established climbing looks like at Auburn, check out the pic below:
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2008 - 09:00pm PT
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Bump for the evening crowd.
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 12:24pm PT
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Last bump for Monday morning browsers then off to oblivion!
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Oct 27, 2008 - 12:55pm PT
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Thanks for all your work- I miss climbing there. I have always wondered why this place doesn,t get more support. Jeff
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Oct 27, 2008 - 01:02pm PT
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Thanks Aaron!
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mrtropy
Trad climber
Nor Cal
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Oct 27, 2008 - 08:39pm PT
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Bump
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Salamanizer
Trad climber
Vacaville Ca,
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Oct 27, 2008 - 09:50pm PT
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Good work Aaron/guys, this is a huge effort you've undertaken.
Looks like all the cards are beginning to fall into place.
Reguardless of the final outcome, I salute you.
BUMP!!!
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 27, 2008 - 11:22pm PT
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Dingus,
Completely agree with you on Teichert and SRA management acting in bad faith. I am not totally in agreement that the recent activty equals the end of climbing out there. The "good" news, if it can be called that, is that Teichert did actually stop and fence the boundary correctly based upon their lease. They didn't try to push the boundary. While this effectively destroys all the routes that were in the Upper Quarry, it does "preserve" the routes from the Wreckage Wall down to the Lower Quarry / Horseshoe which is the bulk of the routes and still has a TON of potential.
See the below picture. The shaded areas are the boundaries of their lease, and that is exactly where the current fences are.
As you can see, there is still a good chunk of rock, the majority of the Old Quarry in fact, that is clearly outside of their lease boundaries. While I don't think that the SRA/BoRec is going to allow climbing willingly, we are prepared to sue if necessary to challenge that. Once the water rights are officially removed (Dec. 2nd), it will be time to start firing up the engines of war....
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